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Prefatory to this discussion is the appreciation of the constitutional consciousness with regard to Labour Law. The Constitution of India is not a non-aligned parchment but a partisan of social justice with a direction and destination which it sets in the Preamble and Art. 38, and so, when we read the evidence, the rulings, the statute and the rival pleas we must be guided by the value set of the Constitution. We not only appraise Industrial Law from this perspective in the disputes before us but also realise that ours is a mixed economy with capitalist mores, only slowly wobbling towards a socialist order, notwithstanding Sri Garg's thoughts. And, after all ideals apart. 'law can never be higher than the economic order and the cultural development of society brought to pass by that economic order'. The new jurisprudence in industrial relations must prudently be tuned to the wave-length of our constitutional values whose emphatic expression is found in a passage quoted by Chief Justice Rajamannar of the Madras High Court. The learned judge observed :

Prefatory to the discussion about the factum of misconduct and its sequel, we must remind ourselves that the strike was illegal, having been launched when another industrial dispute was pending adjudication. Sec. 23 (a) appears, at a verbal level, to convey such a meaning although the ambit of sub-clause (a) may have to be investigated fully in some appropriate case in the light of its scheme and rationale. It looks strange that the pendency of a reference on a tiny or obscure industrial dispute-and they often pend too long-should block strikes on totally unconnected yet substantial and righteous demands. The constitutional implications and practical complications of such a veto of a valuable right to strike often leads not to industrial peace but to seething unrest and lawless strikes. But in the present case, both before the arbitrator and the High Court, the parties have proceeded, on the agreed footing that the strike was illegal under Section 23(a). We do not reopen the issue at this late stage and assume the illegality of the strike.